


Movies Taught Me How To Feel

by TrickrTreason



Category: Mystery Science Theater 3000
Genre: Fluff, M/M, crying in the theater, movie theater AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-28 23:34:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10841796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrickrTreason/pseuds/TrickrTreason
Summary: Based off a prompt where person A works in a movie theater and sees person B crying in a theater after the movie finished.





	Movies Taught Me How To Feel

**Author's Note:**

> I'm in Forrester/Frank fluff hell.

It was never Frank’s life goal to work as a movie theater attendant but it paid the bills and that was good enough for him.

Besides that, he was a real people person and enjoyed engaging in small talk with beleaguered moms buying their small child’s tickets yet again to the latest animated flick, or recommending a rom-com to the elderly couple who would come in at 12pm on Sunday afternoons.

It really wasn’t a bad job. He loved movies and at this job he got to see a good portion of them for free and work with other people who loved movies; and the free posters after a movie left theaters wasn’t too bad either. So while it wasn’t the best or most respected job, it was good for what it was.

However, every once in a while his job got, stupid. Not hard, per se, but something dumbfounding happening; a mom leaving a diaper in the theaters, kids making a ruckus, couple making out too loudly and that one person who just wouldn’t leave the theater for one reason or another. 

The movie theater he worked at was showing some older movies to bring in pretentious college kids and elderly people for a quick cash grab. The movies were dirt cheap and the owners of the theater could get away with charging extra for tickets because of “limited showing times”. 

They were at their last showing of the night and most of Frank’s coworkers had gone home, which was ok with him, he was the one going to get paid overtime, not them, and it seemed like the last few stragglers in the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde theater were leaving. He’d just assumed he would go in there, sweep up the floors, lock up and head home for the night. 

He assumed that, until he was three feet into the theater and could hearing thick sobbing coming from inside. 

Normally he’d just roll his eyes and shoo out the overemotional sap that was in the theater but, this time was weird. This wasn’t a sad movie or a romance movie, heck, this didn’t have a single dog, no, this was a horror movie. Maybe someone had been scared so badly they started crying? Frank hoped not, he wasn’t great dealing with frightened people, being a bit of a scaredy cat himself. 

Knowing he had to, Frank walked further into the theater to see who was crying so loudly at 10:50 at night. In the dim light of the theater he could see a maybe middle aged man sitting in the center row. Popcorn was spilt all over his lap and his florescent green glasses were pushed up on top of his unruly ponytailed hair. His face was buried in his hands and upon closer notice, he was definitely ugly crying, something Frank was very well versed in. 

He approached the row quietly before talking. He was good 3 feet away just in case this guy decided to get violent when he realized he wasn’t alone. 

“Um, hey guy, are you ok there?” he asked. The man’s head immediately jerked up, his face was covered in tears and snot which he immediately wiped on his bright green jacket sleeves, he pulled down his glasses. 

“Yeah I’m fine,” he barked out, acting as if he wasn’t just crying a second ago. He voice went softer as he rubbed at his eyes. “What do you want?”

“Can I… can I sit next to you?” Frank asked. He mentally beat himself up, he just wanted to kick this guy out and go home, why was he prolonging this? Maybe it was just how vulnerable the other man looked. 

“I mean, I guess. Help yourself,” he said, he stopped sniffling so hard but he voice was still heavy with tears. 

“Can I ask you your name?”

“It’s Clayton, how about you?”

“Frank.”

“Oh.”

There was a lapse of silence before the other man- Clayton, spoke again.

“I’m, I’m not usually like this. I don’t know what came over me,” he said, running his long fingers through his matted hair. Frank couldn’t help but notice the white skunk stripe in his hair and mustache. 

“No no, it’s okay. I have days like that too, where I’m just sad for no reason,” Frank replied casually, trying to add some levity to the empty theater. He could hear the other man mutter ‘no reason’ under his breath. 

“I have to ask though, why while watching Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? Usually these movies get me scared, not sad.” He could he Clayton snort lightly. 

“It’s just that, Dr. Jekyll is a deeply flawed and deeply lonely man, and I suppose I can relate to him. He tries to get rid of his evil id so that perhaps he won’t be so lonely anyone but that just backfires on him, leaving him more alone than he ever was before.”

“Hmmm, yeah,” Frank agreed. “And dead too.” He appropriately shrunk away at the harsh glare Clayton gave him. 

“Yeah, and dead,” he replied, with more sadness in his voice than Frank had heard all night. In a spell of stupidity and empathy, Frank grabbed Clay and laced their fingers together, giving his hand a soft squeeze. They stayed like that in silence before he could hear Clay start a fresh set of tears, sniffling softly and voice warbling. 

“You’re not alone,” Frank sang out off-tune and quiet. “I’m here and you’re here and we’re not alone. Things are gonna be okay and you’re gonna be okay, Clayton, I promise.” Frank could feel his heart cry out for this man, as if they’d known each other their whole lives. 

“Ok Clay, we’re gonna get up on the count of three, 1… 2… 3,” Frank used what little muscles in his arm to help lift the man up by his hand. Clayton fell against him as soon as he stood up; leaving both men clung together in a not quite hug. With the both of them standing up, Frank noticed just how much taller the other man was in comparison. Though, there is only so much one can notice when you’re face to chest with a semi-stranger while trying not to overstep your boundaries. 

He could hear Clayton clear his throat and disentangle himself. They looked at each other, ice blue eyes meeting soft hazel ones. 

“So, uh, are you going to be okay getting yourself home?” Frank asked. He was secretly hoping he would say no, hoping to spend more time with the taller man. He cleared his throat again. 

“Yeah, yeah I should be fine, thank you,” he replied. Frank took out a pen and scribbled something down on a piece of paper. 

“Hey, this is my number so, like, if you ever want to talk I pretty much never sleep,” he said, laughing slightly to hide his nervousness. 

“Thank you,” Clay said, taking the paper from Frank. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Well, uh, goodnight Clayton,” Frank said, rocking back and forth slightly on his heels. Frank didn’t even have time to react to the fire behind the other man’s eyes before Clay leaned down and placed a small, chaste kiss on Frank’s cheek. 

“Goodnight Frank,” he said, before his long legs carried him quickly out of the theater. Frank’s hand gravitated to where he’d been kissed and blushed furiously. He seriously needed to start working overtime more often.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!


End file.
